Fable Heroes

Fable Heroes has now been announced and I can tell you this is what myself and Kieran have been working on lately. We both worked on it before we left Lionhead and have been back, as contractors, to help finish it for the last few months.

After the development of Fable 3 I was so burnt out I wasn’t sure I wanted to even make games any more, but the joy of developing Heroes reminded me why I loved making games – without Fable Heroes I doubt there would be a Bit By Bit Games.

So check out the video and what the press have being saying. And of course there’s the obligatory hashtag #FableHeroes.

Ted Timmins, lead designer on Heroes, talks about its genesis and the experience of unveiling it at Spring Showcase here.

Yet beneath the soft exterior and family friendly warmth is a game that’s quick to get its teeth into players of all ages and abilities. It’s telling that, in a showcase that sees what is arguably Microsoft’s strongest ever line-up fronted by Halo 4, it’s a small and unexpected XBLA game that leaves everyone wild-eyed with excitement. Fable Heroes is a surprise, and an utterly charming one at that.

There are boss fights, six mini-games, leaderboards, and you will be able to transfer the gold you collect in the game to Lionhead’s Kinect-only Fable: The Journey to give you a head start on your adventure. In short, Fable: Heroes is shaping up to be one of this year’s true XBLA gems, and you better believe we’ll be keeping a close eye on it as we move towards its release later this year.

What’s most impressive is the inclusion of Dark Albion, a more challenging mode where the enemy A.I. becomes unpredictable and more difficult. This is meant to give you a meaningful reason to replay the 6 hour campaign. Dark Albion also has an entirely different look from the main game. Cheery blue skies become a gross green, an ominous purple light splashes through ash-filled air, and cute scarecrows become scarycrows.

It wouldn’t be Fable without moral choices, and the lighthearted approach to good and evil aims for goofy good times regardless of the result. During my demo, all four players laughed hysterically as everyone kept a dead player (represented by a ghost capable of killing but not coin-collecting) from grabbing the heart he needed to come back to life.